New Residential High Rise Breaks Ground in Office-Heavy Tech Center

Today, project partners celebrated the groundbreaking of Araceli, a modern apartment community, at 4552 S. Ulster St. near the junction of I-25 and I-225 in the Denver Tech Center. The project is significant because of the lack of residential options in the neighborhood. The building solves a need for convenient housing for those who work in the office-rich area.

KTGY, a leading full-service architecture, branding, interior and planning firm is the project architect. KTGY partnered with Legacy Partners (developer), Catamount Constructors (general contractor), Prescient (light gauge steel structure Designer/ Fabricator), Jordan & Skala Engineers (MEP), Studio 10 Interior Design (interiors), S. A. Miro (structural engineer), Terracon (geotechnical) and Kimley-Horn (landscape and civil engineer).

The building is designed with a simple yet elegant façade fronting a highly visible intersection of two major highways. KTGY infused three stories of vertical glazing from the ground-floor lobby to the above parking garage and turned unusable space into a lantern “jewel” piece at to create a dramatic primary entrance. A masonry brick parking garage is screened and integrated into the architectural design and is both visually appealing at street level and cohesive with the building aesthetic.

Due to the small site with significant grade, KTGY took advantage of the slope to create a basement level, resulting in an approved building that appears to be 13-stories from the west and 12-stories from the east. Further, the KTGY team had to design within a unique triangle-shaped lot. The result is a building with two distinct wings. The west wing features a strong grid-like façade with red brick and contrasting gray metal, creating a sophisticated repetition; the east wing brings in the gray metal but alternates it with various-sized windows and balconies in orderly stacks.

“KTGY is proud to create a unique, amenity-rich community that solves the need for housing in an office-heavy, tech centric neighborhood,” said Nathan Sciarra, principal at KTGY. “Using the high slope to our advantage, and triangular-shaped site, we were able to create a distinctively designed community with 13-floors in an area zone for 12.”

Appealing to sophisticated young professionals and empty nesters alike, Araceli is an amenity rich community that takes advantage of four outdoor spaces. Bridging the two wings, KTGY designed an amenity deck that maximizes sunlight featuring a pool, grills, fireplaces as well as covered and exposed seating, all surrounded by planters and greenery. Additional amenities include an event space with kitchen, gathering area and outdoor deck for residential gatherings, a co-working space, fitness center, pool deck, clubhouse and leasing office. Further, the building’s Skydeck features spectacular views of the mountains to the west and downtown Denver to the northwest. The 236 one- to three-bedroom-plus-den units feature built-in desks and workspaces to accommodate the new hybrid work model.

KTGY’s extensive experience with the Denver sustainability ordinances helped the team navigate the intricacies of the approval process, ensuring materials and standards were met and that the building will be NGBS Gold certified.

Renderings courtesy of KTGY

 

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